39 – Subjugation #4
Just because someone is a vagabond doesn’t mean they are incredibly strong. Strong explorers receive better treatment and can enter the labyrinth, so why become a vagabond?
Vagabonds are not much different from explorers.
They have a more evil disposition than others and a lighter conscience. They find it easier to abandon morality than to follow social order.
When women commit sins and descend into the labyrinth, they become vagabonds. Skill was a separate issue.
The “Blood Skulls” are a group of vagabonds stationed on the third floor of the labyrinth. Like the explorer guild, they can be considered a vagabond guild formed out of necessity.
There are about thirty members in total. Nearly half of them were deployed on the first floor. Five of them died during the process of sending them up.
In essence, the entire force was participating in this operation.
There was only one goal: to rescue a boy.
They had reached a point where they couldn’t withstand it any longer, so they took a gamble.
“We can do it, right?”
They had settled about ten minutes away from the adventurer village. Each of them crouched and hid among the bushes, waiting for the right moment.
“They will come down.”
There is a hierarchy even among the Blood Skulls. The right to speak is divided according to the power they possess.
The leader of the group, Veta, spoke with a firm tone.
“They are not weak. Richele is one of the three leaders of the Blood Circle.”
“…Isn’t it taking too long, sis?”
“Be quiet. Keep your mouth shut and wait. Do you think no one gets annoyed by you?”
“…I’m just anxious.”
The atmosphere among the waiting Blood Skulls was not pleasant. The sound of a couple of them fidgeting made everyone uneasy.
Even the plan they executed as a group was not going smoothly. It was inevitable that there would be complaints among the outlaws.
Everyone seemed ready to betray each other at the slightest hint of danger.
Originally, these women had no loyalty whatsoever. They had gathered together for the sole purpose of survival. It was only natural for them to run away if things went wrong.
Even Veta herself understood this to some extent.
“These damn women.”
Veta was not the type to have any loyalty either. She was a selfish woman who valued her own life more than anyone else’s.
Becoming an outlaw and forming her own group had been driven by a mindset of killing her opponents rather than dying herself.
But becoming an outlaw and having her own group had changed her perspective. She had tasted the sweet taste of power by raising the Blood Skulls.
“We just need to succeed in this operation. I heard we managed to capture a B-rank boy from the Miraculous Vanguard…”
“When that guy arrives, can I be the first to taste him?”
As soon as the topic of the boy came up, the men’s appetites were aroused again. Vieta frowned, glancing at his subordinates.
“You idiot. First, we have to be polite.”
“Do you think it’s possible?”
“Yeah, just handle it well.”
There was no need to turn the boy into a totem right away. It would be much more efficient to keep him mentally intact and bring him in alive.
“Don’t rush from the beginning. Let’s slowly get to know each other and show him that we’re good sisters.”
“But it will take a long time.”
“It will take a long time, but if we succeed, it will be a jackpot.”
The [Totem Necklace of Euma] is ultimately an artifact. Its limits are predetermined.
But living humans do not have predetermined limits. That’s what the boy thought.
The boy who activates the F-rank “Soul Protection” is much higher than the [Totem Necklace of Euma] of the same grade.
Of course, the probability is slim. The probability of the F-rank boy reaching the highest point is close to zero.
Impossible.
As the highest point is high, the lowest point is ridiculously low, so most men just turn F-rank or E-rank boys into totems…
Crunch-.
A sound was heard. It was the sound of stepping on a branch.
Vieta turned around, rolling his eyes in annoyance. He growled quietly towards his subordinates.
“…We were staying still.”
The subordinates also expressed their grievances. They claimed that it wasn’t them who made the noise, making excuses.
There’s no way that would happen.
It’s clear as day that they’re trying to pass it off as a lie because they don’t want to face the consequences.
Vita couldn’t stand the sight of those subordinates. She often gave a good beating to those liars.
“Given the circumstances.”
I’ll forgive you. But be careful.
There won’t be a second chance.
She warned them like that. But someone made a noise again.
This time, the sound was closer.
“Who…!”
She had survived for a year. So she couldn’t think of any other possibility.
From Noble mtl dot com
It was a simple case where explorers attacked each other first.
Of course, explorers and rogues had different positions.
Explorers who had to protect a boy. Rogues who only had to protect themselves.
In a war, the former was overwhelmingly disadvantaged.
So the explorers drew a line. They formed villages and guarded the portals.
A minimal resistance.
They acknowledged it. Implicitly, the rogues acknowledged the explorers’ villages.
After all, rogues didn’t want to die either. There were no guilds foolish enough to attack villages rashly.
A standoff, a struggle for dominance, continued.
That’s why she didn’t think about it.
The truth that adventurers are ultimately women who follow their gains. Forgetting that they could preemptively attack if the risk-return is high.
“Damn it!”
The adventurers approached quite closely. It was the result of using “Thief’s Footsteps” based on the plundered totem.
“hehehehe, who should we open first?”
The adventurer at the forefront swung a dagger towards the rogue.
Hunters who kill rogues and plunder their backpacks. They were humans closer to rogues than adventurers.
“Everyone, get up!”
Vita hurriedly stood up and swung her sword. She counted the number of adventurers.
“If they came from nearby Village 6, we have a chance.”
The meeting place was not chosen here for no reason. It was the easiest place to break through.
Although there were few adventurers stationed here, there were many adventurers who roamed outside the village, making this village with large gaps the best choice.
“Don’t run away! If you run away, it’s over! I’d rather kill them all!”
They could definitely win. That’s what they thought and used evil.
“Kehehehehe, I’ll kill you!”
All they needed to do was shake the men’s mental.
Vita quickly took out a gruesome mask and put it on. It was a mask made from the leather of a boy’s face.
The other subordinates also took out their masks.
None of them were made from boys. They were all female adventurers’ faces.
But that alone was enough to have an effect.
“Ugh!”
A strong-willed female explorer might have been different. But the boys had little resistance to human skin.
There was a reaction.
A boy sobbing in distress. The darkness of the maze writhes and rises.
The extended darkness, like tentacles, grabs the arm of an explorer and stretches.
“That’s enough! Kill them!”
They have to be driven away. When the explorers start feeling fear from the darkness of the maze, half of them must be killed.
“Take this!”
Someone shouted and threw something. Vita saw it clearly in her eyes.
“A totem…!”
A totem necklace in the shape of a skull.
There was no mistaking it. It’s an essential artifact for vagabonds.
“That’s…!”
Even totem necklaces have different types. Or should I say, they are more like symbols than endings?
The totem made by “Blood Skull” uses red beads. And they hang small bone fragments on the string.
“Hey, that’s ours!”
Vita wasn’t the only one who recognized it. Other subordinates also realized that the totems used by the explorers belonged to “Blood Skull”.
“You made it, you bastards?”
“I don’t know who you kidnapped and killed. But today, I’ll take revenge properly, you bastards!”
The explorers laugh mockingly. The conversation rushed in like demons, as if luxury.
“Run, run!”
The vagabonds were quick to judge. Slow vagabonds were all dead and gone.
The surviving vagabonds were talented individuals who could assess the situation.
With a single [Totem Necklace of Euma], they grasped the situation. They realized that those they had sent away were already dead, and they themselves were surrounded.
If they couldn’t escape from here, they would die!
“Ahhhhh!”
Veta swung her sword. She thrust her blade into the chest of a Steel Heart guild member who had come right up to her.
Their skills were not inferior.
“Am I going to die here…!?”
They were people who leisurely explored in peaceful cities. Those adventurers and she, who had fiercely survived.
They were definitely not on the same level.
Thump!
Veta bit her lip and pushed the adventurer away. But there was no way she could fend off ten hands with just one hand.
“Kyaaa!”
“Sister, sisssssster!”
One werewolf was rampaging. The subordinates who had easily held their own against humans were now overwhelmed.
With each decrease in subordinates, the burden grew heavier. They were pushed into a corner where they physically couldn’t hold on any longer.
“Damn it! Damn it…!”
Was it because they were wearing human skin as a disguise? It felt like their breath was being choked out.
Or perhaps, was it the dead boy who was already choking Veta’s neck?
Their senses were becoming blurred. Blood was gushing out from the wounds all over their body.
Bietta shed tears and murmured softly.
“I don’t want to die…”
The explorers burst into laughter at Bietta’s pitiful sobbing.
“Ahahahahaha!”
“You don’t want to die? You’re afraid of dying?”
“What nonsense are you spouting, you bastard?”
There was no mercy. The explorers coldly struck Bietta’s throat.
The head of the brigand, disguised in a boy’s leather, rolled along the ground.